Economics Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Government debt: Government debt, also known as public debt, refers to the accumulated financial obligations a government owes to creditors, individuals, or institutions. It arises from borrowing to finance expenditures exceeding revenues. Represented by bonds or securities, it reflects the total amount the government owes and is a key indicator of a country's financial health and borrowing capacity. See also Government budget, State, Fiscal policy._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Policy of Hungary on Government Debt - Dictionary of Arguments
Krastev I 65 Government debt/policy of Hungary/Krastev: One effect of the perceived Imitation Imperative in Hungary was the widespread tendency of low-income families to borrow money denominated in Swiss francs. They did so, it seems, in order to imitate the consumption patterns they observed in the West. >Imitation/Post-communist/countries, >Imitation/Krastev. Household debt soared in a heedless and futile attempt Krastev I 66 to catch up with and replicate Western living standards. Unfortunately, after a radical devaluation of Hungary’s currency, the incautious borrowers had to make skyrocketing monthly payments in depreciated Forints. According to government statistics almost a million people took out loans in a foreign currency and 90 per cent of the foreign currency loans were in Swiss francs. OrbánVsLiberalism: This is what Orbán has in mind when he remarks that ‘the liberal Hungarian state did not protect the country from indebtedness.’ Liberal democracy, he concludes, ‘failed to protect families from bonded labour’.(1) Such crushing burdens reinforced the sense that integration into the global economic system was degradation and impoverishment, not freedom and prosperity, as had originally been promised by its liberal cheerleaders. Krastev I 68 Reading Orbán’s historic speech of 26 July 2014, in which he reaffirmed his militant commitment to building an illiberal state in Hungary, one feels his palpable contempt for those who try to blur the border between victory and defeat.(2) He would agree completely with Robert Frost’s scoffing definition of a liberal as ‘a man who cannot take his own side in an argument’. Orbán was not only disappointed with liberalism and its spirit of compromise; he wanted to defeat it decisively. 1. ‘Full Text of Viktor Orbán’s Speech at Băile Tuşnad (Tusnádfürdő) of 26 July 2014’, The New York Times (29 July 2014). 2. Ibid._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Policy of Hungary Krastev I Ivan Krastev Stephen Holmes The Light that Failed: A Reckoning London 2019 |
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